Tree tags are needed for efficient database update after maintenance work. With appropriate mobile application, tree tags may also be linked to species information for public awareness.
Numbered aluminum tags are low-cost, small and durable. Aluminum tags are fixed using aluminum nails hammered into in pre-dilled holes. Drill bits are disinfected after each use. For tree with less than 8 cm trunk diameter, a longer wire is looping around a branch or the trunk.
Database update based on a tag number is done using a form on a webpage, a mobile application or by sending the information by SMS or Whatsapp to a service provider that enters the data. Appropriate applications are custom-developed according to existing or new maintenance processes.
Tree naming is fundamental for landscape planning and management. In relation with species ecology, natural distribution, conservation status and uses, tree names are needed to achieve goals of public awareness, biodiversity conservation and ecological integration.
Species identification and up-to-date scientific tree naming is supervised by our plant taxonomist Dr Siti Khadijah Rambe. Tree species are linked to data including conservaton value by tree provenance, IUCN index, urban botanical heritage and pictures of botanical characters.
Tree height, trunk diameter at breast height and crown diameter are measured under the assumption that trunks and crowns are circular and centered on tree positions. Tree sizes are used to generate proportional tree symbols, estimations of stored carbon and a baseline for growth calculations.
Tree maps are essential for integrated city planning. Compatibility with other maps needs precision and accuracy.
Common GPS devices have errors up to 7 meters under tree canopies.
We measure relative tree positions using a "total station" with absolute positions determined under open sky by Real-Time Kinematic GPS (RTK-GPS) in reference to JUPEM's GPS stations network.
The outcome are sub-meter precision maps with high capacity for geographical integration. Albeit precise, our maps are not legally certified as Arboribus Sdn.Bhd. is not a licensed land surveyor organization.
Alternatively below-canopy precision map layers are obtained by photogrammetry. Soil pictures are taken with a camera on a pole, stitched together and georeferenced in a 3D cloud point using ground control points. From this 3D model, a 2D picture-map is build and made available as open-data on a server for Geographic Information Systems or webpages in form of georeferenced map tiles.
High resolution below-canopy picture map layers display environemental information that do not appear on aerial views such as:
-trunk contours giving tree coordinates directly on the map;
-soil conditions informing about root development space;
-root systems conditions as indicators of plant adaptation and soil erosion.
Elevation contours or thematic drawings can also be build from a 3D point cloud and distributed the same way as 2D map layers. Drawings
of paths and border contours may not require complete 3D models.